Redtail bagrid

Care at a glance

Overview

The redtail bagrid is a large, aggressive predator that outgrows most community tanks and turns territorial, so it needs a big tank of at least 700 liters and, in most cases, life as a single specimen. It will eat any tankmate it can swallow and may bully ones it cannot, so companions must be large and robust. It is a hardy, greedy feeder on meaty foods like fish, prawns, and earthworms, taking sinking pellets readily. Provide sturdy cover, since it likes a solid retreat to claim as territory.

In the wild

The redtail bagrid is a large predatory catfish of Southeast Asian rivers and reservoirs, sheltering in wood and undercut banks by day and hunting fish and invertebrates at night. It has a broad head, long barbels, and often a reddish tinge to the tail. Give it a big tank with a soft floor, large driftwood, solid caves, and clean, warm, flowing water at 22 to 27 degrees C.

Good to know

Hemibagrus nemurus reaches about 65 cm and is a robust, aggressive bagrid, not to be confused with the even larger Hemibagrus wyckioides, another Asian redtail catfish. It has strong, locking pectoral spines and a large mouth. It is an important food and aquaculture species across its range.

Did you know

It is one of several unrelated Asian catfish sold as redtails, so a small nemurus in a shop can easily be mistaken for a fish that grows to very different sizes.

Related species

• 

  Asian redtail catfish

  Hemibagrus wyckioides

  39.4 in (100 cm)450 gal (1,703 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)
• Harlequin lancer catfish

  Bagroides melapterus

  11.8 in (30 cm)120 gal (455 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)
• Asian upside-down catfish

  Mystus leucophasis

  11.8 in (30 cm)50 gal (190 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)
• Black lancer catfish

  Bagrichthys macracanthus

  9.1 in (23 cm)55 gal (210 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Striped mystus

  Mystus vittatus

  8.3 in (21 cm)60 gal (227 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)
• Asian bumblebee catfish

  Pseudomystus siamensis

  5.9 in (15 cm)30 gal (115 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)